Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory

All at once, Ethan’s expression hardened.

He stepped past the platform’s edge and looked down. What had been empty space below was now filled with a violent gale. A massive tornado surged up from nowhere, its spiraling layers climbing higher and higher, making the broken buildings around it flicker in and out of view like they were being swallowed and spat back out.

At the center of the tornado, a man with a grotesque, wrong-looking face was held aloft by the wind.

His body carried traces of draconic features, but it still clung to a human outline. Call him a dragon and his face and limbs weren’t complete; call him a man and the tail behind him—swaying slowly in the wind—made that a lie too. He spread his arms, calm as if he were greeting guests at his front door.

"Welcome."

His voice cut through the howling wind, landing clearly on the platform.

"There’s nobody else here. Just me, and you. Want me to give you a proper welcome?"

Ethan didn’t answer.

Nothing about this guy looked like the kind of host who brought out tea and snacks.

White electricity gathered in Ethan’s palm. Fine arcs compressed fast into a lightning sphere. The moment it stabilized, it vanished from his hand—

—and reappeared right in front of the man’s face.

So close it was nearly touching his forehead.

The glare stabbed at the eyes. The arcs locked onto his skull. On that trajectory, if it pushed forward even a little, it would punch straight through his brain.

The man in the air didn’t dodge.

He let his mouth droop, putting on an injured, wronged expression. He even raised a hand and dabbed at the corner of his eye, wiping away tears that weren’t there.

But as he made that motion, the broken horn on his forehead lit up.

At first it was just a pinprick.

Then energy spread along the cracks in that snapped horn, and the surrounding wind shifted with it. The air compressed tight. Even loose hems and hair on the platform were pressed down by a force coming from above, like the sky itself had gained weight.

"You’ve made me angry."

The sadness vanished from his face.

"I really did want to welcome you. But you smashed my buildings. You disturbed my rest."

The energy in front of the broken horn compressed to its limit. A sharp, high whine drowned out even the wind.

Maelor lifted his head, his gaze sweeping over them one by one.

"Get ready to become fertilizer."

The instant he finished speaking, energy burst out of the horn in sheets.

Beam after beam raked across the platform with almost no gap between shots. They slashed downward from midair, sweeping the platform’s outer edge first, then tightening inward toward where everyone stood. Each beam cracked the air with rapid-fire pops, the tempo as relentless as a machine gun.

Ethan raised a hand.

White lightning stretched from his fingertips, snapping open into a shield in front of everyone. The first wave of beams slammed into it. White light collided head-on with the horn’s energy, and ripples immediately spread across the shield’s surface.

The impact shuddered through the barrier and into the air around them, making the whole platform tremble.

Ethan didn’t stay to eat the second round.

He bent his knees and sprang up. Lightning detonated under his feet, launching him over the shield and into the air. Maelor kept sweeping the beams; the horn’s aim had only just started to shift—

—and Ethan was already threading the gap, arriving right in front of him.

Close enough to reach out and touch.

Ethan thrust his left hand forward. White lightning condensed into a narrow spear and drove straight into Maelor’s body. The current bored in through the contact point and dove deeper. Under Maelor’s skin, several lines of white light flickered and ran like living things, searching for paths to burrow further.

Ethan judged the distance was perfect.

His right hand came up next, fingers spread, ready to trigger the wind power inside Maelor and rip it out for himself.

But before his hand could steady—

Maelor lowered his head.

It wasn’t a dodge.

Maelor Windscar stared down at the kid who’d come to him on his own, his eyes holding no panic and no pain—only undisguised contempt. His neck snapped with sudden force, and his forehead drove down like a hammer, smashing straight into Ethan.

Bang!

Ethan dropped out of the air like a stone.

He hit the platform hard. The shock spread outward from the impact point, kicking up every bit of dust along the ground. The white lightning link snapped. The leftover arcs jumped a few times across Maelor’s chest—

—and then the surrounding wind tore them apart.

Maelor still floated at the same height. He looked down at the platform, his voice thick with mockery.

"Trying to steal my power?"

He lifted a hand and patted the remaining sparks on his chest.

"Are you fast... or am I fast? Ignorant little brat who doesn’t know his place."

Feylora surged forward instantly.

She reached Ethan, dropped to her knees, and pressed both hands to him. Life energy flowed down her arms in a steady stream, feeding into Ethan’s body. His ragged breathing began to smooth out. The white arcs that had dulled on his skin brightened again.

Maelor’s gaze fell on Feylora.

At first it was just a casual glance—then he caught the constant flow of life power. This wasn’t a one-time heal. It was continuous replenishment. What Ethan had just burned through was being filled back up, little by little.

A moving, endlessly charging "battery."

Maelor’s tail paused, then resumed its slow sway.

Life energy was intoxicating. If his body didn’t need it so badly, he wouldn’t have fallen into hibernation when he was still so young.

"Hey, kid."

Maelor’s tone suddenly turned friendlier.

"That little girl next to you? She looks pretty damn good. How about you think it over—I’ll give you power, and you give her to me?"

He spread his hands, grinning like he was offering a deal that would make both sides happy.

"Well?"

Ethan opened his eyes.

The next instant, a white lightning sphere appeared above Maelor’s head.

Electric light slammed downward, the attack line aimed straight at his skull. Maelor had clearly sensed it long before it arrived. He didn’t get angry, and he didn’t rush to retaliate—he simply shifted his body slightly, letting the sphere drop past his side, then rode a gust to slide in front of the group.

The lightning sphere missed and fell into the currents below, quickly swallowed by the rotating wind.

Feylora kept feeding Ethan energy. Marty stayed by her side, guarding them. Auri stood a short distance away, pumping her little fists, then pulled Idra, Nysera, and Anya close. The four of them huddled together, talking fast.

Nysera raised a hand first.

A mass of energy laced with death power gathered in her palm. Darkness compressed toward the center, stabilizing into a sphere. Right after that, Anya sent red-and-white lightning into it. The two forces threaded across the sphere’s surface, winding around each other without dispersing.

Auri and Idra hung back to hold the line around Ethan.

Maelor watched the busy little group, excitement brightening more and more in his eyes. He craved the life energy on Feylora, sure—but their reactions were entertaining too.

"You’re really something."

He spread his arms, and the wind around him peeled outward with the motion.

"Fine. Let’s play together!"

At the platform’s center, the tornado that had been spinning nonstop suddenly weakened.

The wind column narrowed from top to bottom, the layered currents loosening until the whole thing collapsed into nothing. A brief silence pressed down on the platform. The howl stopped. Even their breathing sounded loud.

But it only lasted a few seconds.

A larger, heavier roar rose from outside the platform.

Airflow surged upward all around them, and a tornado far bigger than the first formed into a ring, enclosing the entire platform at its center. The wind wall climbed higher and higher, blocking out everything beyond it—until all that remained was dark, high-speed rotating air.

Gale-force wind poured in through every gap, whipping their faces and bodies raw. Even the air under their feet was moving, trying to peel them off the platform and fling them into the void.